JANUARY 15, 2020

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DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 11
Politics
Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about
anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for
yourself —Henry James
Your achievements have lifted our
image — Avenor Traditional Council
CHIEFS FROM the
Avenor Traditional
Council in the Volta
Region have expressed
gratitude to
President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his
sense of promise to develop the
area.
They described as historic the
development taking place in the
Avenor area owing to the sound
policies of the Government and the
dedication of the President to improving
the socio-economic fortunes
of the area.
Torgbui Dorglo Anumah, Paramount
Chief of the Avenor Traditional
Council, who led a delegation
to the Jubilee House, Accra, on
Monday to thank the President for
granting the area a traditional council
status within a year of his assumption
of office, said “your
remarkable achievements have reflected
positively on the image of
Avenor”.
He said the introduction of policies
such as the Free Senior High
School and the Planting for Food
and Jobs programme had helped
parents to make savings for other
family projects, and had boosted
production and put Akatsi, the district
capital, in the lead as far as rice
production was concerned in the
Volta Region.
The paramount chief, who was
full of praise for the President for
granting them audience at the seat
of government to voice their concerns,
said it was the first time in
Ghana’s Fourth Republican dispensation
that the traditional authorities
from the area had had the opportunity
to call at the Presidency.
“Mr President, all these developments
are historic; they have never
happened in the history of
Avenor…This clearly demonstrates
your love and concern for us. This is
just the beginning of a chapter in
our relationship with you and the
government of the New Patriotic
Party.
Torgbui Anumah told the President
that the new status of Avenor
Traditional Council granted the area
had strengthened the position of the
chiefs of the area in the discharge of
their customary and traditional responsibilities
as an autonomous
council without let or hindrance.
“This is a privilege opportunity
for which we are most grateful. It is
during your tenure of office that
this dream has become a reality,” he
said.
The paramount chief asked the
President to adopt Avenor “as your
new home, as you are now regarded
as an illustrious son of the land.
Your remarkable achievements have
reflected positively on the image of
Avenor…our doors are open to you
anytime you graciously wish to visit
us.
“Our appreciation cannot be
complete, if we fail to allocate a
piece of land to you to build a home
here to fortify and strengthen our
relationship…you are now a citizen
of Avenor,” he stated.
Torgbui Anumah further assured
the President of the support of the
chiefs and people of the Avenor for
•President Nana Akufo-Addo
his bid for a second term in government.
“You have our firm assurance
in support of your second term bid,
and we will make sure that your victory
will be resounding. Our full
support is for your government to
carry on the good works you have
started”.
The paramount chief appealed
for the speedy elevation of the
Akatsi District to a municipal status,
and requested for the immediate exploration
of oil in the Avenor Traditional
Area.
He was of the belief that the
area was rich in hydrocarbons because
it straddled the Volta Basin,
where oil was discovered, pleading
that government find the resources
to undertake the project.
“We shall endeavour to support
it with all our might and resources,
and help to create the grounds for
its successful exploration,” he assured.
Torgbui Anumah also asked the
President to modernise the Akatsi
central market to boost commercial
activities and the revenue base of
the district assembly, upgrade the
Akatsi district hospital to a fullyfledged
hospital with modern facilities,
and provide a bus each for the
Avenor Traditional Council and the
Avenor Senior High School.
He appealed for presidential
recognition of their newly-instituted
festival, the Avenor Tutudosa, so
that it could be put on the list of national
festivals in Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo thanked
the people of the area for the confidence
they had reposed in his administration,
and assured them that
their concerns would be addressed
systematically in due course.
He said the exploration of oil in
the Avenor catchment area would be
subjected to due process, as the
Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
was undertaking feasibility
studies to ascertain if the oil could
be explored in commercial quantity.
The President asked the Chiefs
and people to keep their fingers
crossed and “hope that at the end of
those studies, we will be able to confirm
the process started many years
ago, and see if the oil there is in
substantial quantities.”
“We are hoping that if the studies
confirm that there is indeed oil
there, we can get as many Ghanaians
as possible and people from the area
to be involved in bringing it up and
using it for their development,” he
stated.
The President further advised
the chiefs to carefully and diligently
map out the land titles “before we
go into this development, so that
when it starts, we are not going to
have any difficulties in any kind of
problems”.
The delegation was accompanied
by the Volta Regional Minister, Dr
Archibald Letsa, and Minister of
Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs,
Kofi Dzamesi. GNA
I didn’t order sharing of 400 NDA tricycles — Salifu Sa-eed
THE NORTHERN Regional
Minister, Mr Salifu Sa-eed, has denied
claims by the dismissed
Northern Development Authority
that he ordered some individuals
to pick 400 tricycles from the yard
of the authority.
According to him, the claim by
Dr Alhaji Abdel-Majeed Haroun is
false.
In a statement issued on Monday,
January 13, 2020, the minister
said: “I wish to state categorically
and unequivocally that I didn’t direct
anyone or group of persons
or a company to pick any item
from the premises of the NDA in
my name or the Northern Regional
Coordinating Council. For
the records, I was the same person
who ensured the protection of the
said items upon my appointment
until the appointment of the CEO
of NDA.”
“The said the claim being purported
by the letter of the former
NDA boss and Kelvin Taylor’s report
is false and a palpable lie.
This is an attempt to soil my hardearned
reputation and hard work.
If I was really behind the picking
of the tricycles, I would have written
formally to the NDA, giving
clear directions and the locations
to deposit the items”.
The statement explained: “As
head of the Regional Security
Council (REGSEC), there was the
need for the CEO who had access
to me to verify before allowing the
so-called assignees of mine to pick
those tricycles as claimed.
“I, as a law-abiding citizen,
therefore, join calls for the NDA
to, as a matter of urgency, open a
full-scale investigation into the entire
tricycle matter, dating back to
2016, in accordance with the laiddown
procedures and laws.
“I wish to also add that no one
is above the law and criminals, irrespective
of their political lineage,
must be dealt with accordingly”.
•Mr Salifu Sa-eed, Northern Regional Minister